[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 4782-4783]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




  ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL CENTER FOR 
                          ATMOSPHERIC RESEARCH

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Ms. Jackson Lee of Texas). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Polis) is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. POLIS. Madam Speaker, I rise today to congratulate the National 
Center for Atmospheric Research, or as we back home in Colorado call 
it, NCAR, on the occasion of their 50th year conducting the climate and 
weather research that has become an icon of the American spirit of 
research and a vital part of all of our daily lives.
  In the 1950s, the Nation's farmers, the rapidly growing airlines, and 
other sectors of our industrializing economy needed better weather 
forecasts. Pollution of the atmosphere was becoming a serious problem 
in urban areas. Cloud-seeding experiments suggested it might some day 
be possible to modify or impact certain kinds of weather, but the U.S. 
atmospheric research community wasn't adequately meeting the challenges 
of information that the new world of opportunity offered to use.
  In 1956, Detlev Bronk, president of the National Academy of Sciences, 
appointed a committee of distinguished scientists from several 
disciplines and instructed them to consider and recommend means by 
which to increase our understanding and control of the atmosphere. In 
1958, the committee came back with several findings and recommendations 
that led to the establishment of the University Corporation for 
Atmospheric Research. Solar astronomer Walter Orr Roberts at the 
University of Colorado was appointed president of UCAR, and the 
decision was made to call the institute the National Center for 
Atmospheric Research, which chose a spectacular hilltop in Boulder, 
Colorado, to call its home in 1960.
  This iconic building is not only home to the most advanced weather 
and climate change research in the world; it

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is also a part of the Boulder Community. Designed by I.M. Pei, this 
building is a focal point of our community. A breathtaking drive takes 
you to the facility that hosts an interactive climate and museum. The 
staff offers tours for the public to see firsthand the tools to fight 
climate change as well as to predict when you need an umbrella over the 
weekend.
  The facility is also a community meeting place, a demonstration of 
what can happen when the Federal Government partners with local 
communities, schools, governments, and academia. On behalf of my 
constituents, I offer gratitude to have this facility and everything it 
stands for be part of our family in our district. I acknowledge through 
the research they produce they create great global benefit.
  In this 50th year, I ask my colleagues to continue support for 
President Obama's ambitious levels of funding for the National Science 
Foundation and NCAR. I invite my friends on both sides of the aisle to 
visit Boulder, Colorado, and this facility, and experience the full 
context of what the symbiosis of government, academia, and private 
ingenuity can do.
  My district, even in this economy, continues to have lower 
unemployment than surrounding districts. One of the reasons is as a 
result of the science and Federal research dollars that are spent in 
our district.
  My hope is that NCAR will continue to yield Nobel laureates and offer 
the Nation and the world cutting-edge research with practical 
applications, and as a result continue to make Boulder the world 
headquarters for climate and weather research. Congratulations to NCAR 
and to the scientists and people who work there--my constituents--that 
carry on this important mission.

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